Natural polished diamond countermarketing essentials. Part 3. Ecology.

In 1978, 40 km east of a small town of Aikhal (its ALROSA’s Aikhal Mining and Processing Plant is the largest local employer) in Yakutia, an industrial nuclear explosion “Kraton-3” (force of explosion is 22 kt) was carried out for the purpose of seismic sounding. The explosion was accidental with the release of radionuclides to the surface. In 1992, plutonium isotopes exceeding the background concentrations by 55,000 (fifty-five thousand) times¹ were detected in the samples taken in the downwind fallout areas. In 2001, radionuclides from fragments and induced radionuclides were recorded in soil samples in these downwind fallout areas, including cobalt-60, strontium-90, antimony-125, and cesium-137. The concentration of strontium-90 in the soil in the explosion area was 1,000 times higher than background values, and the concentration of cesium-137 was 1,500 times higher. The content of cesium-137 in the young larches grown in the areas where the trees died in the explosion area is more than 80 times higher than the background values². 

In 1974, in Yakutia, 2.5 km north-east of the small town of Udachny (its ALROSA’s Udachninsky Mining and Processing Plant is the largest local employer), an industrial nuclear explosion “Kristall” (force of explosion is 1.7 kt) was carried out to create a tailing dump. A total of 8 such explosions were planned, but as the “Kristall” explosion turned out to be an accidental one and its explosion products released into the atmosphere and formed a radioactive cloud, the barbarous experiment was not continued. 18 years (!) later, the explosion area was “decontaminated” in 1992 - just covered with waste rock from the Udachny quarry. Nevertheless, in 2001, the results of the analysis of reindeer moss samples taken several hundred metres away from the explosion epicentre showed that the concentrations of strontium-90 and cesium-137 were by an order of magnitude higher than the background values³. 

In both cases of accidental industrial nuclear explosions in Yakutia, nothing was reported to the local communities about them until the disintegration of the USSR. 

Apart from the consequences of accidental nuclear explosions and the still unclear consequences of “non-accidental” nuclear explosions (totally, there were 22 of them in the diamond provinces), the diamond mining industry has done and continues to do irreparable environmental damage in all regions of the planet where diamond deposits are being operated. 

First of all, the damages cause irreversible changes in the landscape. Just have a look at the photographs of diamond quarries and tailing dumps, as well as the photos of rivers damaged by diamond dredges, to understand that the land and rivers cannot be reclaimed and recultivated. Reclamation is the restoration of the original productivity of land and water bodies. What kind of a “land productivity” can a pit have if it is one and a half kilometres in diametre and five hundred metres deep? Or a “mountain” of waste rock dumps without any organic matter? As for the land reclamation, the real situation in the world’s largest diamond province looks as follows: according to state records as of December 31, 2020, the area of damaged lands in the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) is about 19,329.16 hectares, and as little as 1,282.02 hectares of which were recultivated⁴. Commercial diamond mining has been carried out in Yakutia since 1957, and maximum 6.6% of damaged lands have been recultivated; however, this “recultivation” is not efficient and there is no chance to return to the previous biocenosis. 

In addition to the “impressive” transformation of the areas (where diamond deposits were discovered) into a dead lunar landscape, one should also take into account the industrial effluents, as well as the toxic underground brines discharged into the hydro-network and total soil pollution. A couple of examples can be given: “From 1979 to 1988, 56.5 mn cu.m of highly mineralized wastewater was discharged into the Botuobiya River, the discharge of brines reached 2.25 cu.m/s (with a water flow in the river of 3-4 cu.m/s). Mineralization at the point located 20 km from the river mouth was 80 g/l, which was higher than the mineralization limit for fish survival. Mass death of taimen, lenok (a fish of salmon family), perch, dace, and burbot was observed in the Botuobiya River, the food potential was destroyed. The massive negative impact of diamond mining on water in the rivers, fish, and public health was confirmed by medical and biological studies. The effluents from processing plants and quarries contained hydrogen sulfide and highly toxic salts of thallium, strontium, arsenic and mercury, which caused irreversible changes in the entire ecosystem of the Vilyui River. The results of 2005 showed that according to quality classes of the water pollution, the Vilyui River is assessed as “very polluted” and “polluted”. High concentrations of manganese, aluminum, nickel, titanium, chromium, and strontium were recorded in water, bottom sediments, floodplain soils, vegetation, fish tissues, human blood and hair. In 2009 and 2010, the water in the Vilyui River was classified as “very polluted” according to a set of indices. Significant pollutants are organic substances that are difficult to oxidize, as well as compounds of copper, iron and phenols (the exceeded permissible limits were noted in 71% to 100% of samples)”⁵. 

And here is a more recent episode: “On August 19, 2018, at the Irelyakh alluvial deposit of the ALROSA’s Mirny MPP, four dredging pit dams broke, which caused a large-scale pollution of the Irelyakh, Malaya Botuobiya and Vilyui rivers. The results of laboratory studies obtained on August 20, 2018 for water bodies used for fishery purposes showed that the maximum permissible concentration standards of suspended solids were exceeded by 728.6 times, iron - by 38.7 times, and copper - by 27.6 times. At the Irelyakh River mouth, the suspended solids concentration exceeded the background one by 689.5 times, the concentration of iron - by 5.4 times, copper - by 2.7 times, and zinc - by 6.1 times. On August 21, 2018, state inspectors of the Ministry of Ecology, Nature Management and Forestry of the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) found that the Malaya Botuobiya River mouth was polluted at the point located 170 km downstream the place where the dams broke. The suspended matter concentration in the river mouth was 1,143 mg/cu.dm, while the background concentration in the water of the Malaya Botuobiya River at the point up the Irelyakh River mouth did not exceed 6 mg/cu.dm, the standard concentration was exceeded by 169 times. Pollution with iron ions was 12.5 mg/cu.dm (standard concentration is 0.1 mg/cu.dm, it was exceeded by 125 times), with copper ions - 0.0172 mg/cu.dm (standard concentration is 0.001 mg/cu.dm, it was exceeded by 17.2 times)”⁶. 

To avoid the impression that such “sustainable development” and the “environmental responsibility” of diamond mining companies is typical for Russia only, let’s take a look at prosperous Canada. In Canada, in the area of the Ekati diamond deposit alone, 1,400 hectares of land have been damaged. The habitat of caribous, grizzly bears and wolverines was destroyed. The number of caribous migrating through this area reduced from 400,000 to 128,000. There was an irreversible change in the water composition in the surrounding hydro-network, and 20 lakes with all 7 inhabitants were completely destroyed. Or Angola can be another example where an emergency episode took place in 2021 when wastes from the Catoca mine were discharged into the Chikapa and Kasai rivers, tributaries of the Congo River. As a result, 12 people died and more than 4,000 people suffered, thousands of animals died, and the extensive hydro-network was poisoned. Or South Africa can be taken as an example where in September 2022, the tailing dump at the Jagersfontein diamond mine broke and 7 people died, over 40 persons suffered and 160 houses were destroyed. 

But enough, no more pessimism. Let’s read a Trucost’s report “The Socioeconomic and Environmental Impact of Large-Scale Diamond Mining”⁸ made in 2019 under the order of Diamond Producers Association (DPA), or the latest 2023 NDC’s (Natural Diamond Council, the reincarnation of DPA) report “Diamond Facts. Addressing Myths & Misconceptions About the Diamond Industry”⁹. 

In these optimistic “studies”, there is not a single word about nuclear explosions in the diamond provinces and their today’s consequences, no tailing dam failures are mentioned, there is no information about the river pollutions by diamond mines and about mass death of animals. All the harmful impact of diamond mining on the environment is a carbon footprint, and it is said that according to this indicator, natural diamonds are much better than lab-grown diamonds (LGDs), since the carbon footprint of their mining (in CO₂ equivalent) is almost three times less than that of the LGD production. Simply put, buyers of natural polished diamonds should not pay attention to strontium in the bones of the Yakut natives and the increased infant mortality from leukemia, a couple of hundred dead hippos in the tributaries of the Congo River, several dozen lakes destroyed in Canada, and similar rubbish. It is not news that the diamond business is cynical, but the level of arguments in the “studies” under consideration “goes off the scale”. 

Here is an example of such reasoning from the NDC report, “There is a common misconception that laboratory- grown diamonds are always mining-free. This is not entirely true. Laboratory-grown diamond synthesis requires the production of machines to carry out various processes. Machinery and machine processes involved at laboratory-grown diamond factories, like the presses, are made of high-grade steel, a material that has a high level of embodied carbon.” What a brilliant LGD manufacturers’ self-revelation! This deep thought should be continued with the thesis that dump-trucks and excavators used at the quarries are made exclusively from environmentally friendly decomposing cardboard and are refuelled not with diesel oil but with Greta Thunberg’s crystal-clear tears. 

The obvious purpose of the Trucost’s and NDC’s reports was an attempt to win the green marketing battle against LGDs. Unfortunately, this original idea was realized with the help of confidence tricks. The impact of competitors on the environment was considered exclusively at the current moment, the impact during several years, so the century-old history of natural diamond mining and the destructive effects accumulated during this time were simply not taken into account. It is better to clarify this thesis with a specific example. 

In 1980-1989, the Irelyakh Geophysical Expedition, a structural subdivision of the Yakutalmaz company, has implemented a programme of insight seismic surveys in the Yakut kimberlite province. The technique included the detonation of 1.5-4.5 tonne yield TNT (trinitrotoluene) explosive charges (for comparison, 4.5 tonnes of TNT is equal to 5 warheads of a SCUD-C tactical ballistic missile) in taiga lakes¹⁰. Why in the lakes? Because it was too expensive and time-consuming to drill wells for such explosive charges in permafrost areas, and minimizing the cost of seismic exploration by explosions in natural reservoirs had a very beneficial effect on the final cost of mined rough diamonds. In nine years, dozens of lakes and their inhabitants were destroyed. Of course, there is not the slightest mention of such “sustainability” in the Trucost’s and NDC’s reports. Maybe, this is a very insignificant episode in the global diamond industry? Judge for yourself - in 1980, the USSR’s diamond exports accounted for about 25% of the world’s diamond production. 

But if the history of diamond mining is just ignored, the current situation was interpreted in a very sophisticated way. Try to find the abbreviation “ANFO” in the Trucost’s and NDC’s reports - you will not find it. ANFO is an explosive, a mixture of granulated ammonium nitrate and fuel oil widely used today in the development of diamond deposits, including in Canada. For every kilogramme of the ANFO exploded, approximately 1,000 litres of gas are generated, consisting mainly of CO₂, nitrogen and water vapour. Every year, thousands of tonnes of ANFO are used to make explosions in diamond quarries, but the Trucost’s and NDC’s “researchers” did not pay attention to this source of greenhouse gases. Of course, it cannot be ruled out that the next NDC’s report on the environmental benefits of natural diamonds and the harm of LGDs will propose a special diet for employees of diamond mining companies to minimize the methane release into the planet’s atmosphere, and this will ensure their superiority over the manufacturers of synthetic diamonds finally and irrevocably. But unfortunately, it is impossible to do without explosives used in mining the natural diamonds. 

So, long-term diamond mining has done and continues to do irreversible damage to the environment on all the continents of the planet (except for Antarctica), irrevocably destroying unique biocenoses, water resources and turning the once flourishing lands into a barren wasteland. No “sustainability” mantras and data falsification in “studies” ordered by diamond mining companies are able to undo the obvious facts. 

And now it’s time to ask the question - for what? Of course, mining the oil or non-ferrous metals causes environmental damage no less than mining the diamonds. But without these fossil fuels, the existence and development of civilization is impossible. Rough diamonds are just luxury jewellery, a raw material for polished diamonds, the share of industrial diamonds in the world production does not exceed 4%, LGDs have replaced natural diamonds in various equipment and tools for quite some time now. Killing the planet for luxury jewellery? In the 21st century, this is the fate of either barbarians or idiots. 

In the 1980s, during an anti-advertising campaign against natural fur manufacturers, the thesis “killing animals for the sake of fashion is the domain of scoundrels” worked brilliantly. Under the current conditions, it is quite realistic to repeat this success in relation to the polished diamond market. Evidence of the devastating impact of diamond mining on the environment should be used as a backdrop, but the consumers’ mindset formed in relation to the “Ecology” line of the countermarketing model under consideration should make them perceive the purchase of a natural polished diamond as inextricably linked with the responsibility for irreversible environmental damage. “When buying a natural polished diamond, you are participating in the senseless and unjustified destruction of the planet” - any environmental narrative should form such an attitude. The positioning of LGDs in relation to the “Ecology” line should therefore be carried out as a complete and much-needed replacement for natural polished diamonds aimed at stopping the barbaric destruction of the natural environment. 

In the final Part 4 of these notes, summaries will be made and some specific aspects of the proposed countermarketing model will be considered. 

To be continued. The first two parts you may read at https://www.rough-polished.com/ru/analytics/130693.html и https://www.rough-polished.com/ru/analytics/130874.html 

Sergey Goryainov, Rough&Polished

¹ Алтухова З.А. Алмазы и реки Якутии. Общественный экологический центр Республика Саха (Якутия), Институт геологии алмаза и благородных металлов СО РАН.
² Современная радиоэкологическая обстановка в местах проведения мирных ядерных взрывов на территории Российской Федерации. М., Изд.АТ, 2005, С.106.
³ Современная радиоэкологическая обстановка в местах проведения мирных ядерных взрывов на территории Российской Федерации. М., Изд.АТ, 2005, С.110.
⁴ Бугаев Г. Г. Добыча алмазов и ее воздействие на ландшафты Удачнинского ГОКа // Актуальные вопросы современной науки и практики: Сборник научных статей по материалам X Международной научно-практической конференции. Том 2. – Уфа: 2023. – С. 286-295.
⁵ Алтухова З.А., Алмазы и реки Якутии. Общественный экологический центр Республика Саха (Якутия), Институт геологии алмаза и благородных металлов СО РАН.
⁶ Иванова, Т. С. Об экологической ответственности недропользователей на примере АК "АЛРОСА" (ПАО) // Arctic XXI century. Human sciences. – 2021. – № 4(26). – С. 25-33.
⁷ Dr Gbemi Oluleye. Environmental Impacts of Mined Diamonds. Imperial College London. P. 25.
⁸ https://www.spglobal.com/marketintelligence/en/documents/the-socioeconomic-and-environmental-impact-...
⁹ https://www.naturaldiamonds.com/diamond-guide/diamond-facts-full-report/
¹⁰ Суворов В.Д. Глубинные сейсмические исследования в якутской кимберлитовой провинции. Автореферат диссертации на соискание ученой степени доктора геолого-минералогических наук. Якутск.,1990, С.10.